Prolactin, a potential mediator of reduced social interactive behavior in newborn infants following maternal perinatal depressive symptoms.

Background: The hormone prolactin (PRL) plays a crucial role for the initiation and maintenance of maternal behavior, and is also associated with the etiology of mood disorders in women, especially for depression. The present study aimed to determine whether maternal peripheral prolactin would be associated with newborn behavior disorders following maternal perinatal depressive symptoms, and further to explore the efficacy of the Newborn Behavioral Observations (NBO) in improving newborn social interactive behavior.

Methods: Interview and the 24-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD) were used to assess the hospitalized pregnant women waiting for delivery at 37-42weeks of gestation. A total of 255 subjects were recruited, diagnosed with depression (n=135), and control group (n=120). Within 2 weeks postpartum, mothers were asked to fill with Maternal Attachment Inventory (MAI) to measure maternal care. Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) were used to evaluate newborn behavior. The depressed mother-newborns dyad was randomly assigned to NBO intervention and control group. Serum prolaction in mothers and cortisol in mothers and newborns were measured.

Results: The newborns of mothers exposed to maternal perinatal depressive symptoms displayed the reduced newborn social interactive behavior accompanied by decreased maternal serum PRL as well as increased maternal and neonatal serum cortisol. The NBO could be an effective intervention tool.

Limitations: Our study could not be double-blind. The mothers knew which group their infant were in.

Conclusions: Maternal peripheral PRL had the potential to be a mediator in reduced social interactive behavior in newborn infants following maternal perinatal depressive symptoms.